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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Scrooge-Christmas in London

There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not here any more.-The Ghost of Christmas Present

My favorite Christmas movie is Scrooge starring Albert Finny. This is a musical with a number of great songs and lots of silliness mixed in with the story of that old miser Ebeneezer Scrooge and three ghosts that haunt him into goodness.

Made in 1970 Scrooge was a bit past the musical heyday of 1950s, but it is still a great film. A brilliant supporting cast includes Edith Evans, Kenneth More, Anton Rodgers, and Alec Gunness. I love the melancholy feeling of Albert Finny and his one true love that he lost to his love of money.

There is a great song called Thank You Very Much in which the entire city of London seems to be celebrating the death of the wicked old Scrooge. There is also the sad and hopeful Happiness sung by Scrooge's one true love, though Scrooge is too blind to see the truth until he is brought back to the past. I also like the happy and fun December The 25th.

I've watched Scrooge every year for several years now. One of the keys to falling in love with any musical is hearing the songs over and over again. Maybe Scrooge is not up there with My Fair Lady or Camelot, but I like it. If you haven't seen, you should really give it a look.

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London Thoughts

My thoughts about London Attractions, London Food, and London Fun. I write about places I have visited in London, and I places I plan on visiting on my next trip to London.

I also like lists, so I have a number of London Top Tens. Feel free to disagree on where the best Cheese Shop in London is or what resturant has the best barbecue.

When something in the news about London catches my eye, I blog about that as well, but I'm not as up on London Current Events as I could be. If there is something you think I should be blogging about-please feel free to suggest it.

I like The BBC, DaveTV, ITV, and Channel 4-but mainly the science fiction is what I watch. I also read the occasional book about London, both fiction and nonfiction. My favorite London Guidebooks are the ones filled with photos that talk about all the touristy stuff in the city. I love the sound of a good accent and listen to a lot of audio books read by British readers.

I offer advice when I have advice to offer-such as think twice before riding the ferry down to Hampton Court, it's about a three hour trip as I recall. I also like Hostels and the cheap hotels near the British Museum, but they are not for everyone. When I win the Lotto, you can find me at The Savoy-well, for a coulpe of nights anyway.

British Food and America Food in London are topics near and dear to my heart. I like London Food and Pubs and Cheese and Barbecue and Fish&Chips-and well, just about everything-except salmon, I'm not a fan of salmon.

London is a great town for tourists and all the spots tourists are likely be has been the backdrop of some movie or TV Show. My first visit to London I stopped every few steps to take another photo. London can be grey and wet, but it is an amazing place to take pictures.

Feel free to comment or not. If you've a book you'd like me to review or an East End play you'd like me to see-just send me an email with the details.